Question about game mechanics around healing...

broomy2

I'm playing a cleric (just hit 40) and this is a totally different experience to me from other MMO healers. People here still have to use potions and stay out of red or they die. I simply cant heal them up to full. Am I a bad or is it a question of the mechanics of this game? In most other games I am able to keep everyone alive, however the heals here are rather weak, targeting isnt that easy and I have a hard time healing up someone to full.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

sprawlfx

All I can really tell you is direct healing is not your main. Astral Shield is your best heal.
It is and always will be up to the party members to avoid red and keep a stock of potions.
But read all the cleric guides in the class builds section. You don't need to copy them, none of them is perfect for everyone. Just use them to understand how it is supposed to work. Then it's a matter of which items actually do what they say they do, and that's where it gets tricky.

At 40 I would be really really shocked to see you doing well at party healing. You don't even get your real powers till later.

http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?314631-Guide-to-Everything-Cleric-What-you-need-to-know-have-to-solo-heal-everything-PvE

I used that guide. It's 433-patches-ago, and I've made some minor changes to my own char, which never followed it exactly anyway. But my teammates don't complain much. Much of the specific detail regarding gear and certain powers is probably different now, but my DC still pulls his share of the load.

There are much better people on here to get advice from than me. But I just wanted to tell you, don't get disheartened. It gets better once you get all your gear and powers. You might end up needing a respec, but then again, you might not, too.

I was level 60 for 2 weeks or so before I started feeling semi-comfortable with my DC.

broomy2

Great, thank you!

lskynyrd71

I also am not experienced yet (lvl39) and I agree it is a different type of healing than I have done in other MMOs. SprawlFX is correct in saying keep up the AS as much as possible. And dont wait to start healing. Most if not all the heals are HOTs so start right away. So far I have had good success but obviously that is also due to the people I have teamed with as much if not more than my ability.

You can heal but the other members of the team have to play well to make it all work. I have read some guides and tried some different passives , dailies , At Wills etc. In my limited experience one change can make a big difference in your effectiveness.

GL man

abell39

It really helps to use the healing powers you do have while channeling divinity. Healing Word adds a burst-heal in addition to regen when used in divinity; Bastion casts instantly and more powerfully when used in divinity; and Astral Shield only heals (still just over time) if you use it in divinity. You can use HW for maintenance outside of divinity, but in combat it's only really effective in divinity for the extra burst-heal. Also consider spells like Forgemaster's Flame, which will damage/slow a target and heal allies around it when used in divinity. It's really good for using on the big bads when your whole party is gathered around, just for the heal.

The trick to playing a DC effectively is to learn how best to manage your divinity so that you always have it when you need it.

crescentdusk1

I just started a bit over a week ago on this game and I felt reasonably similar to you in terms of heals. I don't think these devs really intended for us to be uber saving grace healers in the game.

At 60 now with a Devoted Cleric as my first char I can say I'm very happy with my 37% crit because of the effects it has on healing word (which really needs to hit all friendlies within melee distance of each other). Astral Shield that you get at 50~ is a rather small heal and doesn't have any chance to crit heal but it does offer 20% ~ dmg reduction to friendlies inside it while doing so.

I wont suggest which paragon path to use because it's really up to you but Hallowed Ground is available to both and if you get the feat that causes it to heal for 5% max hp every 3 sec and run it with Astral Shield you get like 30~40% additional mitigation to everyone in the overlap as well as a very nice heal. (It's kept party members that can't dodge alive through the thump and pull in guy from one of the upper skirmishes)

nesshx

After playing for some time a 60lvl DC I've noticed how people are wrong about clerics.
Cleric is the leader of the party.
You have tools to do literally everything.
Pulled a Maw while fighting 2nd sp boss? No problem, I aggro it, drag it few meters away and just dance around it while my teammates burn boss down. I can still maintain heals on them, while attacking the Maw I build aggro on it and regain divinity, and it's actually no problem to dance in own Astral Shield. Today me and my friend were named "sent tr/dc" because we never die in normal conditions and still could even survive ridiculous situations.
You can help burning down the boss. That kinda depends on your build, I actually never expect my dps to be helpful, but you have tools to increase power of damage dealers even further. Casting Divine Glow on divinity & some other buffs can speed up killing boss by ~30%.
You can help controlling the adds. Simple experiment: instead of that precious Sunburst try using chains. Especially place them under Singularity when cast. I noticed that after a while of using chains (slotted them for different reason), but the fact that they won't work when Singularity is working can keep adds in one place for little while longer - enough to cast Time Steal or something.

Okay, of course any class can do these things. But here is the best thing about DC and once you realize how to do it, you'll probably either hate the class or never change it.
You control the battlefield. To heal, you must keep track of everybody in your party. By consequence, you know what's actually going on. If adds are kept under control, it's up to you to realize that you don't need 3 cws on adds and one of them can quickly slot for single target damage and go dps the boss. You can do it in 2 ways: either spamming the chat (generally works, but it's quite rare talent to type & play at the same time) or forcing players to move by using heals. It's quite funny how people actually want to stay in that blue circle. And if they don't, they simply die and you deserve the right to whine after wipe (seriously, staying in AS is the best thing cws can do). And after that wipe, you are the one that should correct tactics and point out what went wrong. That kiting gf may actually figure out after a minute or 2 that these sharpshooters are eating his hp, but you actually saw it and you should send gwf to kill these <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>.

That's how you recognize good DC. You know when you have good DC not when people stay alive. It's not simply keeping everyone alive, because some people simply don't need heals. But when you get random people that do for the first time that sp/pk/fh, they simply rush in because t1 were ez so t2 can't be harder, and after 3 min of either wiping or struggling to kill some adds suddenly everybody starts to know what's going on, what should be going on and what should be done to make it work. And then even if people will die, they will know that's actually their fault for not dodging/staying in a circle and later they will thank you for good game. "You turn that defeated, disorganized mess into a coordinated army".

And yes, you will be sitting in the last campfire for hours, wasting hundreds of injury kits, changing tactics and assigning positions. I have been. Even with the guild runs, with people I know. But suddenly you just wake up, go dd and make it in one run. And you go on "wtf why I couldn't finish this before". This is the moment when you start to write absurdly long posts about pretty much nothing.

kamasure

I read all the posts (till mine) and i found most of them helpful .Specially nesshx one that motivated me to give my DC some more chances to learn that class better (cuz as most ppl,im kinda with the class power on healing). But actually yes i will agree that this class is something like the "leader" of the party and not the healing bot that most games offers ( the problem is that most ppl ,possible dont want to paly the role of the leader and wanted to play just a healer...) . I laughed hard when i read the mention about how u move other players with astral shield thing, i used to do it a lot and the feeling is like u are 'Master of puppets' :-p

I wanted to ask if someone can share 1-2 good healing builds ,and stats priorities ,but to have in mind the latest changes on game. (usually i test the char and make my own speccs, but i had a big brake and just rejoin the game, and with that AD cost on respecc ,make me to be more unwiling to test it alone). Thanks in advice, and maybe other ppl reading this post will find the builds and stats on healing specc usefull (if anyone write some).

nesshx

This is my spec. Of course now I would go for other rolls (I'd get a halfling to focus more on con/dex), but it really does well both with healing and surviving. On lvl 60 you slot all defense slots with silvers, offense fill up with azures. When it comes to powers, I have ACDC. Powers you should have maxed: Astral Seal, Sunburst, Chains, Healing Word, Hallowed Ground, Flame Strike, Divine Fortune, Exaltation, Forgemaster's Flame, Anointed Holy Symbol, Anointed Armor, Astral Shield, Anointed Army, Divine Glow, Sacred Flame/Blessing of Battle.
Rest is up to you

abell39

nesshx wrote: »

You can help controlling the adds. Simple experiment: instead of that precious Sunburst try using chains. Especially place them under Singularity when cast. I noticed that after a while of using chains (slotted them for different reason), but the fact that they won't work when Singularity is working can keep adds in one place for little while longer - enough to cast Time Steal or something.

So much this. I don't even slot Sunburst in parties because to me, the heal/divinity gain is not worth the threat it generates. I use Chains instead and it's the greatest thing. You can use it to make your melee partymates' lives so much easier when they swat enemies that like to run around too much, or use it in conjunction with your CW for more control, or use it to set up mobs for AoE damage/debuffs, and sometimes use it essentially as an extra dodge (out of stamina with mob closing in around you? no problem, throw Chains, run away from the mob, and laugh as you pummel them from range where they can't hit you). If it crits, it can wipe out a whole mob at once. Occasionally I'll unslot it for Divine Glow or something if I need the other slots for heals, but Chains almost never leaves my bar -- it's really underrated in parties.

theosymphany

As everyone pretty much already addressed the OP with great tips I'll hold off.
@kamasure if you're still after a build and don't mind a bit of reading about stats etc check the resource in my sig (inc info and discussion on stats, skills, feats, gear, boons etc). Updated with Module 2 info.